NSF Career Award Recipients

The K-12 STEM Center has helped the NSF Early Career Award winners of the past few years with their Broader Impacts

NSF Career Award Recipients2022

NSF Career Award Recipients2021

NSF Career Award Recipients2020

FAQs

National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals are reviewed on two criteria: Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts. Broader impacts are the societal impacts of a proposal and “may be accomplished through the research itself, through the activities that are directly related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to the project" (NSF, 2020 PAPPG pp 44).

USC Viterbi’s K-12 STEM Center works closely with faculty to create innovative partnerships with local schools and/or nonprofit organizations that serve students in Kindergarten through high school and particularly encourage participation by K-12 students who are underrepresented in STEM. The K-12 STEM Center does not have the capacity to run a unique program for you.

Review the following resources to help you get started:

1. NSF 101: Five tips for your Broader Impacts statement

2. Perspectives on Broader Impacts

Submit this interest form to set up a meeting to discuss your ideas with our Center’s team. If you are applying to the NSF CAREER program this year, we recommend the following timeline to ensure that we can best support you (e.g. Letters of Collaboration are needed by early June, as they are not available in the summer).

Examples From USC Viterbi Faculty

Viterbi K-12 STEM Outreach: From Molecular Modeling to Addressing Social Problems Using AI to Fighting Hate Speech

Even in the midst of the pandemic, USC Viterbi professors continued to prioritize K-12 outreach, engaging in projects aimed to foster learning and incite passion for science and engineering. Professors have taken the limitations of online learning and turned them into positives by engaging in projects with high schoolers both in the community and beyond.

The Hunt for Hate Speech: Local High School Students Learn from CS Professor

With more time spent in virtual social settings, high school students are more likely than ever to be exposed to extremist propaganda and messaging by way of hate speech. As the issue of online hate speech becomes ever more prevalent, big tech companies such as X (Twitter) and Facebook are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to curb hate speech on their platforms.

Robotics Night sparks play, wonder at MHS

Elementary students always welcome a chance to interact with robots, especially when robots help children and adults in important ways. The children and their families at Monterey Hills Elementary School interacted with the robots in the lab of USC Viterbi Professor Maja Matarić who is a parent at the school.

Professors Dilkina, Zavaleta & Vayanos Share Research with families in east Los Angeles

Even amid all of the trophies, prize-winning robots, and middle school actors in period costume, long lines led up to the USC booth, where three USC Viterbi Professors introduced students to Biomedical Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.

Professor Jha discusses Petroleum Research at John Adams Middle School

Did you know that some schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are built on the remnants of L.A.’s once-booming oil fields? In fact, an estimated 200+ Los Angeles schools have been built on and near oil fields, and quite a few schools are surprisingly close to the city’s active oil pumps.

USC Professor Luhar Partners with STEM Academy of Hollywood

Until the 1990s, the aerospace industry in Los Angeles dominated the local economy and fueled national prosperity; since Pentagon budgets were cut, however, the region’s aerospace workforce has fallen by 66%. Consequently, not many high schools in Hollywood – or even in all of Los Angeles – have guidance from aerospace engineers, but Principal Paul Hirsch has attracted two experts.

Published on March 26th, 2024

Last updated on April 3rd, 2024